The Filarmonica della Scala first performed on 25 January 1982 under the baton of its founder, Claudio Abbado. In the first season, the orchestra performed with many great conductors alongside Abbado including Georges Prêtre, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Carlo Maria Giulini, who directed the orchestra on its first foreign tours. Riccardo Muti, principal conductor from 1987 to 2005, contributed significantly to the international success achieved in recent years. In 2006, the Orchestra began new collaborations with Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Chailly.
With Riccardo Muti, the Orchestra performed at the Wiener Festwochen, at the Salzburg Festival and the Luzern Festival and also gave performances all over Europe and Asia.
Many world-renowned conductors have contributed to the activity of the Orchestra, among them Leonard Bernstein, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Gennadij Rozdestvenskij, Yuri Temirkanov, Riccardo Chailly, Semyon Bychkov, Franz Welser-Möst, Peter Eötvös and James Conlon. Among the soloists that have played with the Orchestra are Maurizio Pollini, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuri Bashmet, Shlomo Mintz, Gil Shaham, Alexander Toradze, Mario Brunello and Salvatore Accardo. Some of the best singers in the world have also worked with the Orchestra including Lucia Valentini Terrani, Edita Gruberova, Christa Ludwig, Frederica von Stade, Waltraud Meier, Bryn Terfel, Violeta Urmana and Marjana Lipovšek.
The Orchestra is dedicated to performing contemporary works and each year commissions a new piece of music by a major international composer. The Orchestra enjoys recording partnerships with Sony, Decca and Emi. Recordings of particular significance include Beethoven’s Symphonies with Carlo Maria Giulini, Rossini’s Cantate with Riccardo Chailly and the entire symphonic works of Beethoven conducted by Riccardo Muti at Teatro alla Scala in 1998.
The Filarmonica is sponsored by UniCredit Group, institutional Major Partner of the Orchestra.